Chronic wounds affect over 6.5 million people in the United States costing more than $25B annually. 23% of military blast and burn wounds do not close, affecting a military patient's bone, skin, nerves. Moreover, 64% of military trauma have abnormal bone growth into soft tissue. Slow healing of recalcitrant wounds is a known and persistent problem, with incomplete healing, scarring, and abnormal tissue regeneration. Precise control of wound healing depends on physician's evaluation, experience. Physicians generally provide conditions and time for body to either heal itself, or to accept and heal around direct transplantations, and their practice relies a lot on passive recovery. While newer static approaches have demonstrated enhanced growth of non-regenerative tissue, they do not adapt to the changing state of wound, thus resulting in limited efficacy. Advanced wound healing devices generally lack true portability and home-use capability due to bulk, complexity, and/or power requirements. One potential unmet clinical need is the integration of a portable wearable design with modern and sometimes de novo components e.g., specialized microfluidic channels, reliable iontophoretic actuators, and programmable temporal controls.

Professor Iman Noshadi from the University of California, Riverside have developed a choline BIL-functionalized GelMA hydrogel (BioGel) with multifunctional properties for chronic wound treatment. The invention works by enhancing gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) with a special choline-based bio-ionic liquid, which significantly increases the number of intact vascular tubes compared to standard GelMA. Research results suggest that BioGel can accelerate wound closure, with chronic wounds fully healing in about 21 days. This technology is advantageous over existing treatments because the application of BioGel may accelerate chronic wound closure, reduce biofilm, and promote hair regrowth. 

Professor Iman Noshadi and colleagues from the University of California, Riverside have developed an innovative, transparent, and highly effective material called BioPEG hydrogel for corneal repair. This technology is a next-generation anti-microbial bioadhesive that leverages a flexible polymer (PEGDA) to provide a scaffold that is supple enough to conform to the delicate surface of the eye and facilitate corneal repair and regeneration. This technology is advantageous because the antimicrobial hydrogel is applied as a liquid and rapidly cures using visible light to form a strong, watertight, and highly adhesive transparent patch.    Fig 1: A schematic of the UCR BioPEG synthesis: visible light crosslinks the hydrogel structure from polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) and bio-ionic liquid. 

A monoclonal antibody that selectively targets the NLRP3 pyrin domain to inhibit inflammasome activation in inflammasome-related diseases.

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